The design of current walk-behind and riding equipment such as lawn and garden equipment for both residential and commercial use includes a range of features to improve use, efficiency and safety. Among such features are ergonomically designed controls, levers, handles and grips, more efficient engines that provide increased power but lessen the discharge of pollutants, and built-in automatic safety features that generally immediately stop the operation of the piece of equipment thus obviating the need of the operator to undertake a series of actions for bringing the equipment to a halt.
With regard to the design of walk-behind rotary blade mowers the general design is to incorporate a pivotal bar member as part of the mower handle assembly. The pivotal bar member can be adapted to swing upward or downward away from the mower handle assembly when released by the operator, thus interrupting the electrical circuit to the mower's engine and thereby causing the engine to stop. In order to complete the electrical circuit for engaging the mower's engine, the operator swings the pivotal bar member adjacent to the mower handle assembly to the run position, and then grips and holds both elements with his or her hands, thereby initiating operation of the mower. In such arrangement, the pivotal bar member must be continuously held adjacent the mower handle assembly by the operator in order to maintain the operation of the mower. Release of the pivotal bar member by the operator causes the spring-biased pivotal bar member to swing away from the mower handle assembly, thus opening the electrical circuit and immediately stopping the mower. A primary advantage of this type of safety system is that while the operator's presence is required to initiate the safety feature and stop the operation and running of the mower, it is not necessary for the operator to perform a complex series of steps or procedures in order to bring the equipment to a halt.
Although such safety systems have been generally effective for their intended purposes, there still exists room for improvement.